hackGENESIS
by The Mirage of Deceit
Summary: Ovan's Rebirth swept the net, destroying AIDA. GU destroyed Cubia, regaining peace in 'The World'. Unfortunantly, Cubia was not the only thing to be created from Rebirth.
1. Prolouge

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the .hack/ franchise. That right belongs with CC Corp.

* * *

'The World', a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, which had gone through several crisis and home to more than 10 million players, was once again safe. After almost an entire year of fighting, both AIDA and Cubia had been defeated by a group known simply as GU. The team of 8 players and their Epitaphs had been the saviors of the many, rescuing countless players from being trapped in eternal coma. The threat over, peace once again settled amongst the game, Corbenik's rebirth placing everything back to the way it once was.

--

_**Unknown Field**_

A large desert spanned the length of the entire field, the desolate wasteland offering no sanctuary to any who trespassed in the domain. The entire field flickered a few times in static, slowly recovering. Large parts of the field were also corroded, displaying the basic code underneath. Small streams of data flowed through the air as lost bits of audio filtered through the area. Each voice sounded as if it was being run through an old tape recorded, the age of the audio showing.

'_The World and all its wonders… this is my World you see…'_

'_Wha-what did you say!?'_

The area flickered a few final times, finally fully stabilizing.

'_It's called the Key of the Twilight.'_

'_What we're fighting, it's both everywhere, and yet nowhere .Essentially, we are fighting the 'God' of this World'_

The small streams of data slowly came to a stop, nothing in the air now.

'_Sorry Old Lady, but I'm betraying you now too. The way you act, it's really suspicious.'_

'…_and so I will do the only thing I can. I shall abandon that field!'_

By now, the patches of code had been recovered, the field looking whole once more.

'_The power it holds can bring either salvation… of destruction… at the whim of the user.'_

'_What, what is that thing!?'_

The sound of breaking waves could be heard shortly after, a small beach materializing at the end of the field.

'_Welcome to Paradise!'_

'_Please, you must not fight Cubia!'_

The waves had started to calm until a large seaweed covered obelisk appeared, jutting out of the water at an odd angle, strange bumps and runes cover the surface. One side stood out plainly with what appeared to be a screen at the top.

'_The Wave has changed course, it's headed straight for us.'_

'_Aura! NO!!'_

As the final bit of audio died out, the screen on the obelisk snapped on, showing green tinted static. A woman's voice spoke out over the wasteland a few seconds later, a small amount of smug satisfaction in her voice.

"The higher up it is dropped, the worse the crash will be. Hope is the best spice to bring out despair."

* * *

AN: Well, here's the prolouge to a new fanfic I'm starting. R&R, and no flames, for they will be ignored. If you must criticize, make it constructive.

-MoD


	2. Useless Chatting

Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the .hack/ franchise, and most likely never will.

"Speaking"

'_Thinking_'

: Short mail/Email/Text Box:

* * *

_**Σ Ignorant Blue Silver Utopia**_

Haseo cursed loudly for the eighth time within the last three minutes, barely managing to block yet another savage attack from the monster. He cursed the fact that no one was online, cursed the fact that he was bored, and definitely cursed the fact that he ran into a Doppelganger while he had absolutely no backup. Snapping himself out of his short mental list of reasons this was a bad day, he leapt out of the path of yet another attack from the shadowed spectre.

"Damn it! Screw this; I'm getting out of here!"

Quickly going through his inventory, Haseo deployed a smoke screen. Taking his chance, he turned and ran as fast as he could away from the monster. While he would never run from any normal monster or any player, any player who would willingly try to fight their own doppelganger solo was just plain stupid. While occasionally called thick-headed, Haseo was definitely not stupid by any means.

It didn't take Haseo much longer to decide that it was a good idea to leave the field.

--

_**Δ **__**Delta Server Mac Anu**_

Haseo sighed lightly as he leaned against the railings of one of the most travel worn bridges, looking down at the gently flowing river below. He frowned only slightly at the water, looking at his reflection. The system administrators had forced him to relinquish his Xth-form in exchange for allowing him to keep his Epitaph. Their reasoning was that too many of the other players had either questioned and/or complained about it. He had snorted when they said they would give it back free of charge if they ever officially released the Dual Gunner class to the general public. Haseo had seen his Xth-form as ascension from his old title of 'The Terror of Death.' But with the return of his 3rd-form, he had been sure the general populace would return to calling him by that title once more. But to his relief, everyone seemed to prefer the title 'Emperor' instead.

Haseo only groaned in frustration as to what he should bother doing with his time. His father was on another business trip, leaving nothing for him to do offline. After the AIDA incident, along with Cubia, everything had died down and returned to normal. GU was officially disbanded, although the Raven Guild was still in use. But since AIDA was gone, Yata and Pi never had much reason to contact him anymore. Silibus and Gaspard basically ran Canard in his absence, and so they were usually busy anyways. Everyone else on his list just happened to be gone at the same time, except for three of them. Although they were always available for use, Haseo tended to avoid calling on any of the Azure Knights for multiple reasons. One of the simplest reasons was that they just plainly freaked him out. Haseo was brought out of his musings a few moments later, another player approaching him drawing his attention. This wasn't the first time today that a group of players had asked him to join with them.

"Hey, you're the Sage Palace Emperor, aren't you? You think you could go with us to…"

"No…"

The player was caught off guard by the abrupt answer from the black adept rouge.

"Uh… can I ask why not?"

"… I'm waiting for someone."

_'Well, technically this is true. I just don't know who I'm waiting for,'_ thought Haseo as he watched the player walk back to his group and started to converse with each other.

"Well, did he want to join?"

"Nah, he said he was waiting for someone…"

"Did he say who?"

"Nope, he's probably waiting for Godot. Come on… Let's go ask someone else…"

Haseo easily shifted his attention back to the river once the group had left. Once again left to his thoughts, all he had to do now was sulk for that fact that he was bored. He perked up somewhat though when a 'ping' sounded; alerting him to the fact that someone was now online. A few seconds later a simple flash message had appeared.

: Hey! Wanna go explore a dungeon? – Alkaid:

--

_**Serpent of Lore**_

Silence permeated most of the air, only being interrupted now and then by the hum of machinery and the clack of keys being pressed. This was the way things were usually run under Yata's administration. Thus was the reason why Pi's attention was drawn so quickly when she heard Yata grunt slightly.

"Master Yata, is there a problem?"

Pi had been monitoring several things at the moment, but whenever Yata displayed anything other than silence, that usually meant something important. As Pi approached, she took a quick glance at the screen that Yata seemed to be frowning at. But all she could see was that it was a list of files and data that she hadn't seen before.

"Master Yata?"

Yata seemed to snap out of the concentration he was in and glance at Pi for a moment before returning his gaze to the screen before him.

"I am not quite sure. Everything is running smoothly, but something seems… different…"

"Different? Like what?"

Yata was silent a moment longer before he shook his head.

"It's not important, return to your monitoring Pi. We have gotten a tip that a hacker will be logging onto Theta Server shortly. I want you to keep scanning to try and locate the player early."

Pi hesitated only momentarily before she nodded and went to take care of her task. Yata, though, continued to stare at the screen.

'_Harald's black box…. The data has increased somehow…_'

--

_**Σ**__** Continuous Wizards Proper**_

The battle zone dissolved as the last of the monsters fell, EXP being divided amongst the two warriors. Haseo casually placed his twin blades away as he looked over and saw Alkaid doing the same, albeit a bit smugly.

"I think you're getting too slow Haseo, I killed them way faster than you did."

Haseo only chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"Yea, it helps when I spent the whole time whittling down their health."

"Hah, making excuses now?"

"You wish!"

Alkaid only smirked wider at that as she started off again without waiting for her party member, making Haseo have to run after her. Ever since they had hit the field, she had been insisting that they go straight for the boss. He just imagined that this was because she had been offline for almost a whole week, and thus wanted a challenge upon her return. So here he was now, chasing after Alkaid across one of the many bridges existing in the field, and up ahead the boss monster of the field was coming into view. All he could do was smirk at the Dryramas dragon, almost feeling sorry for it.

The great beast roared at the two warriors as the familiar blue walls arose around the designated battle area. Alkaid drew her twin blades as Haseo drew his own broadsword, grinding the saw blades on it as he did so. Any thought on witty banter from either of them vanished though as the great beast lunged at the two of them, sharpened claws promising death to whoever didn't move from their path. Immediately, they both parted ways, Haseo moving around the dragon's right side, Alkaid taking the left flank for herself. The ancient lizard only hesitated for a moment before it started to turn towards Alkaid, battering her aside with a swing of its head. Haseo ignored his team mate though, knowing she would be fine. Instead, he focused his strikes on the rear of the Boss monster. Bracing the large weapon, he revved the chainsaw blades again before swinging the sword, gouging out a piece of the dragon's back leg, causing the leg to buckle slightly. In retaliation, Dryramas swung its tail around to catch Haseo in the side. He had brought his sword up in time to block the attack, but the brute force still sent him skidding to the side. Lowering his sword back into an attack position, he could see Alkaid hammering slash upon slash on the creature's maw. The monster could do nothing but bellow in pain and fury before it finally belched out a powerful stream of fire at its opponent. Alkaid moved out of the way just in time to see the grass burst into flames and turn to ash almost instantly. The second the attack ended though, she leapt straight back into the fray, slashing and gouging the dragon. Seeing that she was doing her fair share, Haseo returned to slashing at the dragon's unguarded backside, avoiding the tail when necessary. This continued for several minutes until Haseo looked up at the health of the creature to see their progress. What he saw stunned him to the point where he didn't even block the tail as it swung for him, sending him soaring though the air to smash into the battle area wall. If the health bar for the creature was to be believed, they had yet to do any damage at all to the beast.

'_That's impossible! What the hell is going on here__? Is this some sort of event or something?'_

Looking over at his partner, he could tell she had noticed as well, judging from the frown she wore over her face. He was about to say something when the Dryramas let out a particularly loud roar before keeling over, its death animation showing. Glancing back at the health bar for the creature, he realized that it suddenly dropped to zero at that precise moment as well. Staring at the creature, he slowly made his way over to Alkaid.

"What the hell was that about, a glitch maybe?"

"Aw, who cares? We killed it, didn't we?"

Haseo could only shrug lightly, seeing the freak occurrence as something to tell Yata about. Ever since the entire AIDA and Cubia fiasco, there had been numerous small glitches here and there. And from what Yata had told him, most off CC Corp. was busily trying to fix everything.

"Uh…Haseo? Any particular reason why the monster's corpse is still lying there?"

Haseo frowned at that as he realized that the monster had yet to disappear like they always did, even though the battle area field had already dissipated as well. Before Haseo could speak though, tears could be seen forming on the creature, a type of green ooze or jelly pouring forth from the cuts. They could both only stare in amazement and curiosity as the Dryramas was slowly deleted as more of the substance poured out until the monster was gone entirely. It was at this moment that the ooze seemed to show life, streams of it twisting and curling into the air from the mess on the ground. Slowly, it started to give itself shape and form. A form that greatly resembled, in Haseo's opinion, a barbell. He only chanced a quick look at the data for the monster that had appeared as he targeted it.

"The… Guardian?"

* * *

AN: R&R people. As usual, pointless flames will be summarily ignored, constructive criticism will be appreciated.

I am sorry for making the chapter seem a bit rushed. I was intending to draw out the fight in more detail, but trust me, there will be far better fights in the future. I would also like to apologise for short chapters. I know they are short, and I'll try to make them longer next time.

As a warning to my readers, I'm usually very busy, so chapters will not be added on a regular basis. Instead, they are added whenever I have the free time. So they will at times show up very fast, or maybe takes a week or so. So I apologize in advance.


	3. Magic and Sword

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the .hack/ franchise. It's sad, I know.

"Speaking"

'_Thinking_'

: Short mail/Email/Text Box:

"**Flashback thought"**

* * *

_**Serpent of Lore – 3 Days Later**_

Yata stared down solemnly at Haseo who fidgeted slightly under the weight of the gaze.

"And what happened next?"

"I told you already, I don't know! That thing appeared, and then the next thing I remember was waking up in an ambulance as it was rushing me to the hospital!"

Yata went silent again as he studied the person before him. Three days ago he had been startled to get an important message from Alkaid, and even more startled by what the message had said.

"What the hell is going on here Yata?"

Yata ignored Haseo for the most part as he started to type in commands in his computer.

"Haseo, I need to run a diagnostics check on your character. This will only take a few minutes. Please remain calm throughout the process."

Without even waiting for an answer, he activated the sequence. Haseo's form slowly rose up in the air before being suspended in place as a blue grid slowly appeared all around him. Yata was sure he heard a good amount of cursing directed at him, but he ignored it like most people did. Instead he focused on the readout that was scrolling across the screen in front of him, scrutinizing every single detail. After a few moments, he visibly paled, causing Pi, who had been keeping naturally quite through the process, to walk up and look at the screen herself.

"What the…. That impossible! Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the equipment Master Yata?"

"Hey! I'm right here you know! Now is either of you two idiots going to tell me what the damn problem is?"

Yata recovered quickly before looking between the screen and Haseo.

"It would seem to appear that the size of your character data has drastically decreased…"

"Yea, so? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, Haseo, that your Epitaph, Skeith, has been removed from your character."

Haseo could only blink, trying to register his words, as he was slowly lowered back to his feet. Yata took this moment to try and explain further.

"I have taken the liberty to look at the logs for the area in which the incident happened, and have found data that suggests a Data Drain was initiated. As I believed that only Epitaphs had the ability, I had assumed it was you. Apparently I was wrong. This now requires more investigation. I will contact you when I have more information."

Haseo gritted his teeth in annoyance. None of his questions had been answered properly, and now he was being dismissed, just like that. Haseo only grumbled as he turned and exited the command room and entered the front lobby of Raven. Just as he reached for the front doors, he heard a ping, signaling that someone had sent him a short mail.

: Haseo, meet me where our destinies collided; where it all began and where it all ended. – Ovan:

--

_**Δ **__**Hidden Forbidden Holy Ground – Hulle Granz Cathedral**_

The stone doors didn't even creak as they were pushed open, the dark form of Haseo stepping through a few moments later. He silently looked around, hoping to see a tall figure in white, but was disappointed to see the cathedral empty. Sighing, he let the doors close behind himself as he walked forwards into the cavernous room, his footsteps echoing throughout the room. As he walked towards the front, he cautiously looked over the room. Every time he came here, something happened, and he was sure it would be true once again. After a few moments he let his gaze move the empty alter, his eyes widening.

"**They say there used to be… a statue of a girl here."**

"**A girl?"**

"**That's right. She was called Aura."**

Ever since he could remember starting the game, the pedestal had always been empty save for a single length of chain that would sit there, perched on the side of it. But now, just as Shino once spoke of, the statue of a girl stood there, two lengths of chains wrapping around the statue, the ends of both anchored on different places on the walls around it.

"What the hell…? Is that…?"

"The shining girl… Aura."

Haseo's head whipped around to see Ovan standing calmly, not even 10 feet away, looking as if nothing was wrong with him being there. All Haseo could do was stare in shock as Ovan slowly walked towards him until they were standing side by side, Ovan staring up at the statue's face.

"I hope you will forgive me, Aura. I did not anticipate this happening."

"Ovan… are, are you back now? I mean really back for good?"

Ovan turned slightly to regard Haseo, the ever present smile on his face.

"Do you know what is happening, Haseo? The boundaries are being lifted. The system has been reverted, creating a paradox."

Haseo could only stare at Ovan, already getting aggravated.

"Damn it Ovan! Stop talking in riddles and tell me what's happening!"

Ovan could only smile as he turned back to the statue.

"When you helped me to activate Corbenik's Rebirth ability, we reset perhaps too much. How much has Yata told you about the origin of the Epitaphs?"

Haseo could only shrug as he thought back on it.

"I think he said they were all a part of something called the RA Plan, or something like that; Data being used to try and get Aura to come back. That's about it though, why do you ask?"

"Haseo, did you know that each Epitaph originally existed as a singular being? When they were one, they were known as Morganna Mode Gone. She was 'The World' itself, God of 'The World' if you will. About seven years ago, a group of legendary fighters took on the ultimate task of destroying her to keep the system from going rouge."

"I think I read about that before. They were the .hackers, right?"

Ovan only nodded as he continued.

"Yes, they were the ones to solve the final mystery of 'The World'. After everything was over, Morganna had been destroyed, her data torn apart, and next to impossible to reconstruct. Each of our Epitaphs is made up of the data found and salvaged from Morganna Mode Gone. With almost all of her data reconstructed, the Rebirth linked them all together, recreating her."

Haseo thought on the new info a bit longer before he spoke up again.

"Okay, but how is this a problem? Even if this program was able to reconstruct itself, wouldn't there be pieces missing? I mean, we still have the Epitaphs, right?"

Ovan slowly shook his head, his smile slowly fading.

"She has begun to recollect her missing pieces. From my understanding, she has already recovered two of her Epitaphs. Skeith…. And Corbenik…"

Haseo stared at Ovan in shock.

"What!? You've had your Epitaph stolen as well? How?"

"It makes no difference now. Our primary concern is to try and prevent her from recovering all of them."

Haseo only nodded as he turned to head back to town.

"Alright, I'll go tell Yata what's happening just incase he wasn't listening in on us. And Ovan, it's good to have you back."

Ovan only smiled as he watched Haseo leave the Cathedral before he turned and resumed staring at the statue. As he watched, yet another chain appeared, coiled around the statue before anchoring itself on the wall.

--

_**Δ **__**Stalking Betrayed Nothingness**_

A tall slender figure, garbed in a dark navy blue ninja garb with purple stripes about it, stood over the grayed out body of a child-like female Shadow Warlock. The character carefully flicked a long strand of forest green hair out of his face.

"Awww, she was no fun at all. A complete waste of time."

The katars on each of his arms quickly retracted into their sheaths before he shrugged and scratched the long scar on his left cheek. Something that made the character even stranger was the long red bandages that were wrapped around and flowing off of him, along with the tattered cloak he wore.

"Other than holding Gorre, she was completely useless. Old Lady had better stop wasting my time like this. Oh well."

He only shrugged to himself again before he leapt high into the air, disappearing in a flash of three golden rings, uttering his own lame sound-effect of 'boing'.

* * *

AN: R&R people. Flames with be used to torch marshmallows. After which said flaming crème puffs will be thrown at said offenders. Constructive critisism will be taken seriously though. So if you see something that could be improved, please tell me.

Once again, sorry for the short chapter. I know not much happened, but I'm trying to get the stage set for all that is to come. Thankfully, all of the chapters should start getting longer after this.


	4. Strangers

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the .hack/ franchise. It's sad, I know.

"Speaking"

'_Thinking_'

: Short mail/Email/Text Box:

"**Flashback thought"**

* * *

_**Δ**__** Delta Server Mac Anu**_

Haseo leaned against the bridge railing as he always did, grumbling once again. His dash for Raven's Guild had been pointless. Something he should have known beforehand. Yata had been listening in to his and Ovan's conversation and so already knew everything before Haseo even opened his mouth. And to make matters worse, when Haseo had gotten back to the Cathedral, Ovan had already left and gone missing once again. And he had been here in this spot since then, sulking. A few minutes later, he perked up as he received an email. At this moment, anything sounded good to Haseo. Not wasting any time, he opened the message.

: Haseo, there is a disturbance. Gather a team and investigate _**Σ Continuous Stalking Utopia**_. –Yata:

Haseo could only smirk; glad that he finally had something to do that would hopefully turn out to be interesting

--

_**Σ**__** Continuous Stalking Utopia**_

Three orbs appeared through the field gate and expanded into a portal, depositing 3 players onto the field. Haseo looked around carefully at the field.

"A desert huh?"

"How bleak and empty. Such an ugly field."

"Ah, it's not so bad. I think it looks rather peaceful."

All Haseo could do was look between Endrance and Atoli, personally trying to think one who he would agree with.

"The field doesn't matter. According to Yata, something is here. Now let's start looking!"

--

A thin, lithe figure sat on top of the building that would lead to the beast statue, watching the one's who had entered the field. He sat there watching them for almost 20 minutes, watching as they explored the field to its fullest extent. The only one he actively recognized was the one in the black armor, the other two new faces.

"Hmmm… Now which one did the Old Lady want me to get."

The man only had to watch for a short while longer before he smirked, already a plan in mind. Without a sound, he slipped off of the building.

--

The Battle Area field disappeared once again as Endrance sliced through the final goblin, ending its existence gracefully.

"Such a pity that they had run into us, right Haseo?"

Haseo could only nod absently, knowing that this was the easiest way to acknowledge Endrance without making him start proclaiming this or that. Atoli only smiled and nodded as well, happy that no one was hurt. Haseo was just annoyed that everything had been far too easy the entire time. The field was at a ridiculously low level compared to them, so the monsters were mere nuisances rather than challenges.

"Well, I think the field is pretty much clear. Let's finish this up by checking the Beast Statue."

Both team members nodded, agreeing, as they made their way to the center of the field, the building standing like a monolith against the land. With all of the monster defeated, the land had become silent. As they approached the temple, though, Atoli disturbed the silence was a sharp gasp. Haseo and Endrance both turned to regard her.

"Atoli, what is it?"

"I... I hear something. It's coming from within the building!"

"Well? Is it AIDA?"

Atoli waited for a few more seconds before she shook her head.

"No, I've never heard this before."

Haseo could only scowl lightly as he turned and continued to the temple, slowly walking down the stairs. When they reached the bottom, he cautiously pushed the giant stone doors open. Motioning his team behind him to wait, he entered the room, quickly glancing over everything. But to his chagrin, there was nothing out of place. No odd characters standing, waiting to greet them. No horrible monster lurking in the shadows, ready to maul the next living thing it saw. Just… nothing. Sighing irritably, he called his team and proceeded to the altar where the chest sat, sitting peacefully in front of the floating stone statue. He sighed once again after kicking the chest open, and noticing that there was absolutely nothing special in it other than some common items. As he was closer, Haseo just gave the items to Endrance who was only too thrilled to take them. He quickly turned back to Atoli so Endrance wouldn't go into some speech or such. While Haseo appreciated it, Endrance's affection always creeped him out slightly.

"So, what happened to that thing you heard?"

"I… I don't know. It just vanished before you entered…. I'm sorry…"

Haseo scowled at her, knowing it wasn't her fault. It was the fact that she always apologized for everything, even if it wasn't her fault. Thankfully, he had been trying recently to break her of that habit, though it was easier said than done.

"…Don't worry about it Atoli. Come on, let's get back to Yata."

Both Endrance and Atoli nodded as they began to head towards the doors. But before they reached them, they were stopped by an odd sound that filled the air, a sound that Haseo recognized. He quickly snapped his head around from side to side, trying to locate the monster. He didn't have to look for long before Atoli gasped and pointed to the space in the air where the statue had been moments before. A large green blob seemed to form from thin air and roll over itself before starting to split into two, both orbs connected by a single strand. When finally the surface of the creature stopped rippling, it was in the shape of a dumbbell. Almost immediately they all drew their respective weapons, although Haseo was the only one who realized the danger they were in.

"Be careful of it! That's the thing that can remove your epitaph!"

Endrance and Atoli both nodded, understanding the pressure they were now potentially under since they both still had their Avatars. Haseo and Endrance wasted no time in charging their adversary while Atoli stayed back and began to cast boosting magic on them. Haseo felt that it would do little to no good though as the monster let out another mournful wail and attacked back, long tendrils spearing out from the surface of the monster and lashing at them. Endrance was driven to the side by a swipe made from the Guardian as Haseo block another tendril at the last second, the sudden ferocity of the attacks startling him. He quickly recovered and tried to rush at the monster again, but yet another flailing tendril cut off his path. Looking over at Endrance, hoping to get some help, he noticed that he was having much the same problem. But as suddenly as the monsters onslaught had started, it had stopped, leaving all of the startled. Haseo took the time though to back up a few feet to prepare himself for another onslaught from the Guardian, and he wasn't disappointed. The monster wailed as it sent tendril after tendril at the warriors as the dodged, blocked, and slashed back at it, trying their best to keep up. Finally, after an unknown amount of time to Haseo, he found an opening. Acting upon it while he had the chance, he dashed forward, narrowly missing getting impaled by a tentacle as it pierced the air he had occupied not but a second beforehand. He ducked, dodged, and weaved through the attacks, quickly working his way closer to the monster. Approaching the creature, he leapt up into the air, straight for it. When within range, he let out a cry as he slashed at the monster in every way possible, stopping the creatures attacks as well. After his attack was finished and he landed back on the ground, he looked up at the Guardian with a smirk on his face. It quickly vanished though when the Guardian swooped down out of the air and smashed its large side against him, sending him flying. It also made Haseo wonder how something that looked so liquid-like, and yet it felt solid when it rammed him.

After he got to his feet, he couldn't help but feel annoyed when he noticed his attacks had done little to no damage to it. Getting a new idea, he quickly put away his twin blades and then reached over his shoulder, drawing his broadsword in a burst of light. He quickly revved the blade a few times as he smirked at the Guardian. In a burst of speed, he was quickly running at the monster again, but before the tendrils could strike him, Endrance jumped into their path, keeping pace running in front of Haseo to deflect the blows away from him. Every once in awhile, he could see a healing spell hitting Endrance, telling him that Atoli was still with them, doing what she could to help. Upon their final approach though, Endrance finally broke off to try and draw the Guardian's attention, if for but just a few seconds. And with the seconds spared, Haseo leapt up again at the monster, blades on his blade ringing through the air as he brought it down in the middle of the beast, right onto the ring that served as its center. The sound of metal grating over metal could be heard as he pushed against the ring. Haseo was glad to know he found the right spot to hit since his blade actually met with resistance this time. Dimly, he could feel the ring giving out under the pressure of the sword until it finally shattered, and Haseo fell through the rest of the beast, landing on his feet. Looking up, he was able to see the monster as it wailed out one last terrible time as it grayed out and began to dissipate. Haseo couldn't help but smirked, glad that nothing bad had happened this time. But before he could turn and congratulate his team, the air was once again filled with noise. This time though, instead of wailing, they heard noise that sounded like somebody was clapping.

All three of them cautiously looked around the room, trying to locate the source of the clapping. But since the acoustics of the room were already awkward as it was, the noise was difficult to pinpoint. The clapping continued as somebody spoke out to them.

"Wow! That was simply amazing, you rock Haseo!"

The clapping stopped as they could hear somebody moving. The only warning they had though before something fell down from the ceiling was a small spoken 'boing!' Now standing in front of them was a person that Haseo could only describe as odd. The characters model had defiantly been tampered with, since he had the appearance of a ninja.

"Who are you?"

The ninja only smirked at them from where he stood.

"A fan of yours, you could say. I must say, that was spectacular how you beat the Guardian. I've only ever known a single party to defeat one of them. Of course, they were then immediately outclassed by three of them."

Haseo continued to glare at the newcomer. He felt distinctly uneasy about the character. A part of him felt like he should know exactly who that stranger was, and why he shouldn't be here. And yet another part of him said to not trust a single word the stranger said. So he kept glaring at the man, wishing that smirk would vanish from his face, until a name seemed to float through his head.

"…Sora?"

If anything the name caused the man to grin even wider.

"Bingo! I must say, I was starting to think that you weren't ever going to remember me."

Haseo could only scowl further, the amount of people around him who loved to speak in enigmatic ways kept growing, and it was seriously starting to piss him off.

"Damn it, stop screwing around! What are you doing here? And what did you have to do with that monster? Are you the one sending it out to attack us?"

Sora only yawned and began to stroke one of his bangs.

"Awww… is little Haseo getting angry? You're no fun at all. Fine then. Yes, I'm the one whose been sending out the Guardian's, under orders of course."

"Oh yea? From who?"

"Awww…. Sorry little Haseo, but nobody likes a tattle-tale. Tell you what though, I will tell you why I'm still here though."

It was still getting to Haseo with how much Sora kept grinning to himself like that, like he held the answer to some great cosmic joke. That's why he was all the more surprised when Sora simply lifted his hand, and a Twilight Bracelet formed around his wrist.

"Hmm…. Which one, which one?"

All three of them were too startled to do anything, also realizing that there was very little they could do at the moment. Haseo had thought that the only ones with the ability to use Data Drain outside of Epitaph Space were both him and the three Azure Knights. It was this thought that gave Haseo an idea. Keeping a close eye on Sora, he quickly typed up a message and sent it out. Usually, a Data Drain would have fired by now, but he could easily tell that Sora was purposely holding off on actually firing the weapon, instead wanting to continue toying with them. After a few seconds of impatient waiting, Haseo smirked as he heard a familiar sound ring through the area, one that he used to fear and despise. And sure enough a few seconds after the melody note faded away, three small azure orbs seemed to fade into view, floating gentle on some unseen breeze. And then, in a blaze of sound and light, three dark and decrepit characters stood, staring hauntingly at Sora. Sora stared back in a slight look of disbelief.

"Oh no…. not you guys again."

"Get him!"

The last cry had come from Haseo, and the Azure Knights had wasted no time in following through with the order. All three drew their respective weapons and dashed towards Sora. He only sneered though as he turned back to Haseo and his group and aimed the Twilight Bracelet at Atoli and then fired. Haseo cried out in surprise as everything seemed to slow down to him. He could see where the data blast would be heading, but there was no way he could get her out of the way in time, and the Azure Knights wouldn't Sora before it hit either. So he was trapped there, watching as Atoli was about to be Data Drained. But at the last second, he could barely make out a slender blue form darting in front of Atoli and shoving her out of the way before being struck. After that, all he could hear was Endrance crying out in pain as the Data Drain went through and rewrote his characters data.

Haseo could only stand in shock and disbelief that Endrance had actually sacrificed himself to save Atoli. As the attack ended and Endrance laid unmoving on the floor, He quickly turned to face Sora just in time to see him leaping and dodging almost all of the different attacks coming from the Knights. But before Haseo could join in the fray, Sora leapt high up into the air and landed on a protruding ledge, turning only enough to turn back towards Endrance's still form and aim his hand at the fallen man, making a mock up of a gun with his fingers.

"Kapow!"

And with that, Sora promptly disappeared in a display of three golden rings. Right after that, the Azure Knights warped out as well, intent on trying to follow their target through the net. Haseo could only curse before he turned and ran back to Endrance and Atoli, kneeling next to his form.

"Hey! Endrance, hang in there, alright?"

Endrance cringed slightly as he moved to look up at Haseo.

"Is Atoli safe?"

"Yea, she's fine. But what about you, why did you do that? Why did you jump in the way?"

Endrance smiled lightly, trying not to show how much he was hurt.

"Because, if she was hurt, it would have made you sad, Haseo. I didn't want to see you sad again."

Atoli kneeled down as well and looked over at Haseo. She could easily tell that this was bothering him. He always got upset whenever one of his friends got hurt like this. Turning her gaze down to Endrance, she tried to smile as best she could.

"Thank you…"

Endrance only nodded before he finally passed out, his character fading in a distinctive purple light of someone warping out. Haseo continued to sit there for a few minutes longer though, staring at the ground.

'Damn it… First me and Ovan, and now Endrance. Is this going to happen to all of us?'

Atoli, meanwhile, fidgeted from her spot, trying to think of something comforting to say. When she finally thought of something, and opened her mouth to speak, Haseo suddenly stood up and started to walk out of the temple. The sudden act startled her to the point of falling back onto the ground with a slight squeak of surprise.

"Come on Atoli, we need to go report this to Yata."

Atoli quickly nodded and stood back up before making her way to follow Haseo out the door. But before exiting, she looked back at the now empty and silent room. To her, it suddenly felt like a tomb. Suddenly, she found Endrance's description of the field a bit more fitting than her description. After that thought, she didn't hesitate in the least to leave the field.

* * *

A/N: My deepest apologies to my readers. I have gotten very busy as of lately, and have had little time to work on this chapter. I also had to rewrite the chapter several times to get it to my liking as well. I hope the chapter was worth the wait.

Also, I am thinking about adding in a romance sub-plot. But as of yet, I don't know who I should pair Haseo up with. So if you think it's a good idea, let me know, and what pairing you would want to see. As a forewarning, I do not do yaoi, so there will be NO Haseo/Endrance. So don't waste a vote.


End file.
